Once a week, NEU offers a selection of relevant news on issues related to Migrations.

Austria and Italy Play Down Tensions on Migrants Crisis
By NEU – Newsletter for the European Union

On Thursday Italy’s Minister for Internal Affairs, Angelino Alfano, and his Austrian counterpart, Wolfgang Sobotka met in Rome to play down tensions, after Austria suggested reintroducing border controls at the Brenner Pass to prevent migrants from arriving through Italy. “There will be no wall,” Sobotka was quoted as saying by Reuters, “If and only if it is necessary will we introduce more controls by slowing traffic and trains … but circulation will be guaranteed.” Read more here.

Austria Shuts its Door to Migrants
By NEU – Newsletter for the European Union

It started with the decision to introduce a limit to the number of asylum claims to be accepted yearly. Austria declared that they will accept 37,500 asylum claims in 2016 – less than half of last year’s 90,000. It has received around 14,000 claims so far. Now, the government announced an amendment to the Asylum Act that will introduce, as of mid-May, a new procedure at the border which allows for asylum applications to be immediately rejected if the person has arrived irregularly on the Austrian territory. Read more here.

EU Deal with Turkey on Migrants Condemned by the Council of Europe
By NEU – Newsletter for the European Union

The Council of Europe (CoE) condemned the EU-Turkey Agreement of 18 March 2016,  as “it raises many serious questions of compatibility with basic norms on refugees’ and migrants’ rights”. The deal was adopted by the European Union as a response to an unprecedented numbers of refugees and migrants arriving in western Europe via the Eastern Mediterranean and Western Balkans. “The approach of the EU-Turkey Agreement is indefensible. The European Union has an unconditional moral duty to open humanitarian pathways, including resettlement, for substantial numbers of Syrian refugees from both Turkey and other countries such as Lebanon and Jordan,” states CoE’s in a report. Read more here.

Austria in an ‘unfriendliness competition’, says migration researcher
By Nina Niebergall on Deutsche Welle

Austria is annoying Germany with its restrictive asylum policies. Whether they have made an EU-wide asylum system impossible is something DW asked migration researcher Heinz Fassmann. Read more here.

Refugees stranded on UK military bases in Cyprus given fresh hope
By Owen Bowcott on The Guardian

More than 30 refugees who have been stranded in UK sovereign military bases in Cyprus since 1998 have been given fresh hope of finding a permanent home in Britain. The high court in London has ordered the home secretary, Theresa May, to reconsider her refusal to allow the six families entry on grounds she did not consider all the r elevant circumstances. Read more here.

Turkey: e-Food cards for refugees
By Monica Pinna on Euronews

How can refugees’ basic needs be secured? Food, for example. The World Food Programme found that the best way to use international funds was the e-Food Card programme, launched with the Turkish Red Crescent in 2012. The new programme Aid Zone goes to the country with the highest number of refugees in the world, Turkey. Read more here.